Knicks End Sixer Home Win Streak

There was a Starks contrast in the second-half performance of the New York Knicks last night and that was more than enough for the team to post a 109-91 win over the 76ers.

New York guard John Starks pumped in 26 of his 32 points after halftime to snap the Sixers' modest three-game winning streak and six-game stretch of success at the Spectrum.

It was the Sixers' first loss wearing the 1966-67 uniforms. But head coach Doug Moe was hardly blaming his club's attire.

"It was Starks and the turnovers that did us in," he said after watching his club fall to 15-21. "We killed ourselves with turnovers and Starks got them going offensively."

Starks, in his fourth season out of Oklahoma State, looked like some of his former collegiate classmates -- fellows like Barry Sanders and Thurman Thomas -- as he broke ahead of the pack on numerous breaks.

And when Starks wasn't gliding in for layups, he pulled up for numerous open jumpers. He was 13-for-29 from the floor overall -- 10-for-19 after intermission when he took control of the game from the Sixers who couldn't control anything as evidenced by their 25 turnovers.

"My shots felt good tonight," said Starks, whose scoring average had jumped from 12.5 to 14.8 in the seven contests prior to last night. "I'm just on a roll right now. It's just a matter of time before the shots start falling."

Starks' shots fell often in the third period when the Knicks turned a 51-50 halftime deficit into an 81-71 lead entering the fourth period.

He scored 12 points in his team's 14-4 run over the final three minutes of the third quarter when the Knicks grabbed a stranglehold on the contest played before a charged crowd of 17,183 that included a sizable portion of "Bocker Backers."

The Sixers, limited to 40 second-half points, could never make things interesting in the closing quarter. Back-to-back buckets by Jeff Hornacek and Armon Gilliam brought the hosts to within 81-75 with 10:26 left. But from there, the Sixers went nearly the next five minutes without a field goal.

By the time Andrew Lang pounded home the next Sixer two-pointer off a Hornacek feed with 5:29 remaining, the Knicks were up 95-81.

Starks scored 14 points in the final period and, for a while, he seemed capable of outscoring the Sixers by himself. Philadelphia made just four of 18 from the field in the final 12 minutes.

"The Knicks put a lot of pressure on us defensively," Moe said. "They really get after you and they did a great job defensively tonight. I thought we played pretty well in the first half, especially in the second quarter.

"But they hung with us because of our turnovers. The turnovers were a combination of them playing good defense and us doing a lot of dumb things."

And the Knicks also benefitted from some last-second magic at the end of both the first and second periods.

At the close of the opening quarter, Doc Rivers launched a one-handed bomb from 50 feet that either Troy Aikman or Jim Kelly would love to unfurl in that little game in Pasadena next Sunday.

Then, at the finish of the first half, Patrick Ewing (game-highs of 34 points and 15 rebounds) swiped an inbounds pass and slammed it through the cylinder just two-tenths of a second before the break to give his club the momentum it carried throughout the second half.

"I don't know what happened there," Moe moaned. "That should never have happened. We just didn't take care of the ball. The Knicks shot a poor percentage in the first half (just over 39 percent), but they had a lot more shots than us."

Part of the Knicks' offensive problem was simply that so many of their shots never got near the basket. The Sixers had 13 rejections in the first half and finished with 14 overall -- four each by Manute Bol and Lang. But in the end, it was the Knicks' center -- Mr. Ewing -- who made his presence felt the most.

"This was a good win for us," said Ewing, who got into the block party himself with five turnaways. "We need to stay focused and keep getting the job done, especially on the road. The Sixers are improving and played us tough. We just didn't give them the back door cuts they were getting away with in the first half. We just started out horrible."

So did the Sixers, you'll remember. Was last night's game a reality check? Was that pop in the late Philly night the sound of a bubble bursting?

"We'll see," Moe said. "Tonight, we just got beat by a good, solid team. We didn't play well and they did. When that happens, you're going to lose."

Hornacek led the Sixers with 23 points, while Hersey Hawkins and Clarence Weatherspoon added 18 each. Weatherspoon and Bol each collected 11 rebounds for the Sixers, who outboarded the Knicks 55-44.

HOOP SCOOPS -- It was T-time last night as the foul-filled game produced its share of gripers. Five technicals were assessed. Jeff Hornacek and Armon Gilliam were Sixer recipients, while Doc Rivers, Anthony Mason and Charles Oakley T'ed it up for the Knicks. ... Sixers visit New York Tuesday (Channel 17) and return home to host Indiana Wednesday and Washington Friday. ... Entering last night's game, Clarence Weatherspoon was averaging 14.6 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. By contrast, Charles Barkley averaged 14 points and 8.6 boards in his rookie campaign. ... Weatherspoon, Hornacek and Tim Perry are the only Sixers to appear in every game this season and Weatherspoon is the only player to start every game. ... Last week's "Nostalgia Night," when both the Sixers and Golden State Warriors wore uniforms from the 1966-67 season, will be featured on today's "NBA Inside Stuff" at noon on Channel 3.